At 09:10 PM 3/11/02 -0800 Doug wrote:
>And didn't even let me buy him lunch so we could argue face to face!
>
>
>Chicken!
>
>8^))))
>
>
>So did you get to Yosemite? Sequoia/Kings Canyon? Where'd ya go?
Well, I thought about it - but I was warned that it can be pretty rough out
there in the Winter...... so it was strongly suggested to save such things
for a Summer Trip.
Sorry I didn't even think about contacting you or other Bay Area
Brineller's, but I have no less than five friends from college in the SF
Bay Area - and coordinating the whole thing occupied a lot of my time - and
I didn't even think about adding other variables. Although, would have
happened to be available on Valentine's Day? I somehow couldn't find
anyone to entertain me in that time slot. :) Anyhow, if you really care
here is what I did do:
Wednesday -
Landed Wednesday night, was picked up at the airport by Johan - a friend of
mine from Model UN in college. It was Ash Wednesday, and since I landed
at 9:00pm local time (12:00am Tuesday Eastern Time), I stayed up until
12:00 Tuesday local time so that I could get something to eat after 27
hours of fasting. :)
Thursday -
While Johan worked I spent the day with his wife, Jeneanne, who was pretty
much my best friend in college. (In fact, when Johan and Jeneanne were
first thinking about hooking up, they didn't want to have an actual *date*,
so I ended up going to see _Titanic_ with them in the theatre. This, of
course, produced great "toast" material for the wedding. :) Saw the
National AIDS Memorial Grove in the morning, and did Alcatraz in the
afternoon. (Thus, so I ended up spending both New Year's Eve and
Valentine's Day with the same married woman from California. Go figure. :)
Jeneanne then dropped me off at The Cliff House to do some hiking while
she drove home to Santa Rosa. Once it got dark, I hopped on the bus
to the CalTrain Station and either left my wallet on the bus or had my
pocket picked. Either way - the wallet doesn't make its way back to me.
:( At the Cal Train Station, I do find a generous soul to donate $5 to
a geeky kid wearing a huge backpack to get to Stanford and meet my college
roommate, Dan and his wife, Carolyn.
Friday-
Carolyn has classes, so Dan and I go up to Danville to see the Concord
Naval Magazine National Memorial. Unfortuantely, due to a bit of
confusion, we got registered for the wrong tour and saw the Eugene O'Neill
National Historic Site instead. It wasn't all bad - in part because
O'Neill was really something of a freak - his house is full of colored
mirrors, and crooked garden pathways and whatnot. I also got the walking
tour of Stanford out of the deal, and then met my friend Mark, from
college, for dinner in Palo Alto.
Saturday-
A beautiful day- Dan, Carolyn, and I go hiking at Pinnacles National
Monument. We did a nice 10 mile hike that looped through the entirety of
the park. In the middle we had a lunch of bread, cheese, and strawberries
that just completely hit the spot.
Meanwhile, my friend Andy flies in from Chicago to meet Jeneanne and Johan
- and I meet the three of them in downtown San Francisco.
Sunday-
Hit the local Catholic Church in the morning. Toured the Korbel Winery
(under duress - I was outvoted :) and a nearby State Park with Redwoods.
Played basketball for a while (Jeneanne had to work) and then I learned how
to play racquetball - and not only am I not very good at racquetball, but
on my very first swing I missed the ball completely and whacked myself in
the forehead. O.k., I can see that I'm never going to live that one down
around here if someone is actually reading this thing. :) That evening I
saw my first-ever DVD, _The Family Man._ And I must say that middle
class suburban life is definitely *much* more enticing if your wife is Tea
Leoni! :) (and you get an adorable precocious kid to boot - would the
movie have still worked if his wife was Rosie O'Donnell and his kid had
Down's Syndrome?)
Monday-
Toured Point Reyes National Seashore. Saw grey whales for the first time,
just off the coast, and also saw elephant seals for the first time. I also
learned how to play standard team spades (at BLS we play with some nasty
house rules). So we alternated spades and pizza with debates on the
morality of the Civil War and whether Andy should marry a woman who is
a) crazy about him
b) having about 95% of the things he would want in a wife
but c) lacking in generating firm feelings of love for her in him.
Tuesday-
Saw Muir Woods in the morning in a driving rainstorm before catching an
afternoon flight home. :)
And *that* as they say, was my mid-winter's vacation.
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"Our campaign against international terrorism does not represent some
sort of 'clash of civilizations.' Instead, it is a clash between
civilization and those who would destroy it." -Amb. Richard N. Haass
